After a longtime, I thought of reviewing books on Quality Management. The 2009 version of the book, is a pretty handy guidebook based on Dr. Kume’s vast experience with the TQM movement.
He recognizes, the more rapidly changing characteristics of marketplace better than when he wrote the first edition. Thus he places 1.effective response to customer demand and 2. Making management more reliable and efficient, as the key objectives of good Quality Management system. He emphasizes that quality is a long term initiative and organizations must understand that benefits of establishing a sound quality management system comes over a longtime.
He explains the PDCA and then, the SDCA cycle in a very lucid way. The distinction between the two is vital; as was found in one of the transformation projects my team has been running. In this project, because of the inexperience of management team, writing SOPs was insisted without going through PDCA cycle of concretizing the cause and effect, and the transformation process saw undesirable effects.
The Juran Spiral as PDCA spiral is called, is a profound ‘cyclic process’ that is used in several contexts, in manufacturing, in projects, software development, new product development and new business creation.
Frankly enough, Dr. Kume also acknowledges, that there are obvious difficulties in setting quality criteria for an organization and by definition, pursuance of quality is a defensive mechanism. He also recognizes the limited use of PDCA in innovations.
Written in a language of general management, this book makes a good reading and positioning of Quality Management in Business.
The 2nd edition of the book is available in indian print at PQP pvt ltd.